The Physics of Collective
Consciousness
by Attila Grandpierre
Attila Grandpierre, Ph.D. Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences
H-1525 Budapest P. O. Box 67., Hungary
February 6, 1996
ABSTRACT: It is pointed out that the organisation of an organism
necessarily involves fields which are the only means to make an
approximately simultaneous tuning of the different subsystems of
the organism-as-a-whole. Nature uses the olfactory fields, the acoustic
fields, the electromagnetic fields and quantum-vacuum fields. Fields
with their ability to comprehend the whole organism are the natural
basis of a global interaction between organisms and of collective
consciousness. Evidences are presented that electromagnetic potential
fields mediate the collective field of consciousness. This result
offers for the first time experimental access to the study of collective
consciousness by measuring the field-related information-carrying
potentials and their derivatives, the electric and magnetic fields
between different individuals. The electrodynamic interaction of
different brains/minds generates induction and in this way excitement,
enhancement in the baseline of the interacting brains’ activity.
A list of empirical evidences is presented here proving the existence
of this ‘interactive excitement’ effect in the known
phenomenon of collective consciousness. The fundamental phenomenon
of the collective consciousness is known as ‘social facilitation’
or ‘group effect’. The character and completion of consciousness
are outlined in the frame of this picture, and the role of the ‘group
effect’ or ‘social facilitation’ as a primary
factor in developing consciousness is described. A quantum-physical
model of a multi-layered consciousness is presented, where the layering
is expressed by the subsequent subtlety of the masses of the material
carriers of information. I show that as the mental levels get deeper
and more sensitive the couplings are on more and more global scales
of their environment. I point out that direct, immediate action
in distance actually exists in the electromagnetic field, which
is the coupling, mediator field between waves and particles. I show
how the environmental, natural and cosmic fields are determinative
sources of our consciousness. The results presented point out that
the Collective Field of Consciousness is a significant physical
factor of the biosphere. I show that the morphogenetic field has
an electromagnetic (EM) nature. EM fields are vacuum fields. Different
basic forms of vacuum fields exist, and all kinds of fields, including
the particle-mediated fields as well, when overlapping each other,
seem to be in a direct resonant coupling, and form a complex, merged
biofield. The vacuum model of consciousness presented here points
to the inductive generation of consciousness, and to its self-initiating
nature. Individual and collective methods, as well as the experimental
possibilities of a global healing and improving the consciousness
field of mankind are suggested.
1. Introduction
It is generally accepted that consciousness evolved parallel to the
biological and social complexity of the living systems. This observation
suggests that the basic nature of consciousness is related to collective
influences, and therefore consciousness is 'per se' a collective phenomenon.
Endre K. Grandpierre (1996) in his essay "Cosmic Systems of Consciousness,
Their Development, Two Principal Branches and Evolution from the Golden Age
until the Present" has shown that consciousness is the manifestation of
interactions. Ervin Laszlo (1995) has shown that a holographic information field
is responsible for the physical, biological and paranormal phenomena. This
holographic field is actually a non-linear vacuum field. The information field
in biology is termed as biological or morphogenetic field and it appears in
society as a collective field. Unfortunately, the presence and nature of social
fields have not been explored yet to a degree when it is clear how they are
related to the biological fields. If the nature of consciousness is based on
elementary interactions, as suggested by Endre K. Grandpierre (1996), then we
have to explore whether the interactions of known physical fields may serve as
mediators of consciousness and may produce the fundamental phenomena of
consciousness, the 'group effect'.
2. The Evolution of Consciousness
It is widely believed, that the way evolution manifest is from parts to the
whole, from the inorganic matter through the unicellular organism towards the
multicellular ones until the appearance of consciousness. This process is
accompanied by a growing degree of complexity. This direction of the evolution
of consciousness is naturally extrapolated towards the appearance of collective
consciousness and the Consciousness Field of Mankind (Grandpierre, A., 1995).
But why complexity is a necessary condition of a higher form of consciousness? I
suggest a plausible answer: because the sensitivity to any stimulus may be
increased through the interconnectedness of the constituents of the organism.
The increased degree of sensitivity in groups is available through the
interactive creation of collective states having energetic states with
smaller net energy differences between each other than within the constituents
themselves. Therefore they may interact with more subtle stimuli. According to
my theory, this basic phenomenon works effectively when the energetic states of
the constituents are close to each other. The maximal sensitivity of a system
consisting of a fixed number of elements may be reached when the system builds
up from almost identical constituents. Examples of this 'collective
effect' are multicellular organisms, societies of insects, animals, and
humans, and celestial bodies. The Earth, the Sun, the stars, and the galaxies
are also systems consisting of similar components. Their organic nature has not
been revealed in a scientific context, but now the new research shows that
planets and stars do show fundamental life-phenomena and signs of sensitive
interconnectedness (Grandpierre, A. 1996a, b, c, d). Regarding the large number
of their constituents, the degree of attainable consciousness of these cosmic
systems has to be enormously larger than that of humans. As Endre K. Grandpierre
(1996a, b) showed, the evolution of the consciousness of cosmic systems divides
into a cosmic and a biological branch.
This chain of thought places collective phenomena into the centre of
evolution and the generation of consciousness. Our argumentation is
substantiated by wide-range observations, e.g. that of L. Thomas (1974): " A
solitary ant, afield, cannot be considered to have much of anything on his mind;
indeed, with only a few neurones strung together by fibres, he can't be imagined
to have a mind at all, much less a thought. He is more like a ganglion on legs.
Four ants together, or ten, encircling a dead moth on a path, begin to look more
like an idea. They fumble and shove, gradually moving the food toward the Hill,
but as though by blind chance. It is only when you watch the dense mass of
thousands of ants, crowded together around the Hill, blackening the ground, that
you begin to see the whole beast, and now you observe it thinking., planning,
calculating. It is an intelligence, a kind of live computer, with crawling bits
for its wits." On the other hand, the 'group effect', a phenomenon of
psychology which I suggest has a fundamental significance, arises in the same
circumstances. Ants work three times more effectively if nearby co-working ants
are present (Chen, 1937). Not only the presence of co-working partners, but
also, the mere presence of passive 'observers' facilitates their activity
(Dashiell, 1930). 'Social facilitation' is a general phenomenon
accompanied by an enhanced level of brain activity appearing in the whole range
of social animals, including humans as well (Triplett, 1898; see a review of the
phenomenon in Atkinson et al., 1993).
To establish the proper context and assess the significance of the
phenomenon, I gathered here a whole list of collective consciousness effects.
Allport (1961) noted, that among developing children, the sense of other humans
develops much earlier than the sense of self-identity. I suggest that this
'social primacy' is related to the frequently observed "emotional
fertilisation" in kindergartens. Children cry and laugh even if they do not
have any motive except that in their close environment somebody else acts in the
same way. The phenomenon of "noise-ecstasy" usually appears among
adolescent people, in classrooms. "In the age of adolescence whole classrooms
become involved in the 'mass state', which is a state which developing through
mutual emotional infection. On these occasions the whole classroom become
crazy, they make incredible noises, dance wild dances, rhythmically move, or
simply produce a wild chaos. Every pupil participates in the orgy of the
upheaval, even those ones, who are not inclined to behave that way within normal
conditions and who immediately after the event regret having acted so" (Clauss,
Hiebsch, 1964 ). Kurt Tepperwein notes that hypnosis becomes more effective if
it is applied in groups, as a consequence of "spiritual infection" and
imitation of the others (Tepperwein, 1977). The increase in the number of
already hypnotised people facilitates the hypnosis of the next one. This
phenomenon suggests the existence of a collective field. Large number of people
(tens of thousands of people) were involved in epidemics of psychoses on
several occasions and for long times (years) (Farkaslaki, 1939) in the medieval
age. Similar occasions took place in the modern era, such as tarantism,
demonopathy, dancing mania, mass hysteria (Smelser, 1962), mental epidemics,
'mass psychogenic illnesses' (see the recent review of Bartholomew, 1994). The
transference of the anomalous behaviour was described as when the number
of people showing the anomalous behaviour reached a certain threshold, the
behaviour spread much more easily (Turner and Killian, 1972; Miller, 1985). The
"Reutler-effect" shows that the contraction of the muscles of a person
may enhance the contraction of the muscles of another person from a distance
(Reutler, 1928). Stefán Figar (1959) showed that bodily changes related to
special mental activities may easily be transferred to other people
independently of their knowledge about each others' actions.
I have to point out, that all of these phenomena may be interpreted by an
electromagnetic field model of consciousness, including the phenomenon of
hypnosis. If consciousness is organised with the help of the EM field, this EM
field may be able to transcend the borders of the organism emitting the waves
(see the evidences later on), and interact with the consciousness field of
another person nearby. This possibility is allowed by the measurements of Ravitz
(1962), who showed that EEG changing during hypnosis presents a waking state
pattern. Collective consciousness fields are suggested to act in the ancient
Japanese no-theatre and in the truly cathartic theatre performances (Vekerdy,
1974). As Vekerdy formulates, the artist may exert an effect on the audience in
three ways: using words, through hearing, by movements, through seeing, and
using intense emotions, which exert their effects through telepathy, extra
sensory perception. In an experiment conducted by Charles Tart, two graduate
students were mutually hypnotising each other. He had Anne hypnotise Bill and
after he was hypnotised, he had Bill hypnotise her in return. Anne and Bill in
this state experienced the same fantastic, hallucinated reality (Tart, 1969).
Richardson (1995) experienced that an imaginary playmate, observed
independently and consequently by nine children, was also observed by one
adolescent male and also perceived by herself, the teacher personally, as a real
4-year old person. Richardson writes 'In my own case, during the contact, I was
not aware of suspecting that she was an apparition until I had the thought "She
does not belong in our yard and she is not even dressed right for this century."
At that moment we made eye contact and she vanished, dropping the baseball cap.'
We may observe that consciousness is fundamentally related to (external and
internal) collective, or social interactions, and is elicited through enhanced
emotional levels. The collective consciousness field effect is especially
amplified when a large number of participants are involved. Therefore, the
collective consciousness field of mankind may not only be influenced by nature
but also by a modification of social origin, e.g. when significant amount of
people are involved in mutual hypnosis. Psychological researches have shown that
creativity is triggered in intense emotional states. The hypothesis that the
determining factor of consciousness is related to emotional states is developed,
considered and evidenced later on.
3. Collective Biological Fields
Experiments show that collective biological fields may dominate the
individual field (Popp, 1994). The nature of the biological fields has not been
understood, although it is clear that they are related to electromagnetic fields
(Bauer, E., 1920; Gurwitsch, who worked at E. Bauer's institute, 1922; again an
assistant of E. Bauer, Koltsov, 1936; Spemann, 1938; Weiss, P., 1939; Burr,
1956; Ravitz, 1962; Sheldrake, 1981, 1988; Popp et al., 1989; Bischof, 1995).
Recently, H. Oldfield's life-long work substantiated that the biological field
is mostly of electromagnetic nature, and postulated the hypothesis of a purely
electromagnetic (in the followings EM) morphogenetic radiation (Oldfield,
Coghill, 1988). Two other basic books on bioelectromagnetism are the ones by
Becker and Selden (1985) and Smith and Best (1989).
I have to point to a yet unnoticed circumstance regarding the nature of the
morphogenetic fields. If constituents of a group interact through
electromagnetic fields, they have to be able to detect EM information coming
from their environment, and also to be able to emit EM signs carrying
information about their internal states. In that case they have to be EM
antennas, receiving and broadcasting EM waves. But we know, that antennas are
specially designed to be sensitive to a certain wavelength of EM radiation, and
that the characteristics of the EM spectrum, as well as their receptive
characteristics, depend on their sizes, and in general, on their geometrical
forms. Interactive elements of a group, when using EM waves, are sensitive to
each other's geometry, i.e. forms. It is easy to see that organic EM antennas
regulated by the interchanged EM signs may be described as influenced by their
'morpho-genetic' field, i.e. any EM field acts as a morphogenetic field. This
theory seems to be able to interpret e.g. the fact that the shape of the smelled
molecule determines its information content (Thomas, 1974). If atoms are
arranged in precisely the same configuration, by whatever chemical name, the
compound molecule might smell as sweet.
What is the function of the biological fields? In every cells hundreds of
thousands of reactions set up every second. Most of the reactions of the cells
have a substantial life-function, therefore they cannot happen by chance, but
need specific guidance, timing and regulation, as they fulfil a function for the
cell as a whole. Their regulation need a much quicker regulative system than the
time scale of their reactions, since it requires an overview of the actual
states and possibilities and the basic needs, and the co-ordination of the
different factors. The regulative mechanism of the cell therefore has to work
with subtle energies. The regulative system has to proceed the relevant
informations in due time. Therefore, it has to work with the most effective
information carriers, i.e. waves. The regulative mechanism of the organisms has
to apply ultrafast interaction in order to be able to inform and co-ordinate the
different reactions of the organism approximately simultaneously.
4. Physical Conditions of Consciousness
The physical means of information exchange between an organism and its
environment is determined by the physical conditions, the size of the organism,
and the biological time-scales. The regulation of the reactions with biological
functions require processes faster and subtler than the reactions themselves.
Acoustic waves propagate with a velocity of v = 1.4 km/s in the human
body. Taking a characteristic size of the human body l = 2 metres, we can
calculate a value for the characteristic acoustic frequency of the human
body:
fac,human body = v/l = 103 Hz, (1)
therefore the characteristic time scale of these acoustic waves is
tac, human body = 10-3 s. (2)
Using electromagnetic waves, the human organism has another characteristic
frequency and time-scale, with l = 2m,
fEM,human body = 108 Hz = 100 MHz, (3)
tEM, human body = 10 -8 s. (4)
Larger frequencies belong to smaller wavelengths, therefore to inner signs,
smaller frequencies mediate information from the environment. EM waves originate
from the body, as well. Brains emit EEG waves between 1-40 Hz, in the range of
the EM waves of the Earth, the Schumann waves (Schumann and König, 1954). The
frequencies of the Earth's EM waves can be calculated using L = 40 000 km,
as
fEM, Earth = 300 000km/s /40 000 km = 7.5 Hz. (5)
The researches of Ludwig (1984) showed that Schumann waves are necessary as
biotropic stimuli for the living organisms. Tsuvayev (see Merkulov, 1978) showed
that the growth and development of mushrooms and water-plants ceases when
isolated from environmental magnetic field. It is interesting that the acoustic
resonant frequency of the human body falls into the range of 7-8 Hz. The human
body is extremely sensitive to signs at this acoustic frequency. Noises with
this frequency, if they are intense enough, may sensitively alter bodily
functions. It seems to be strange that the resonant frequency is not the one
determined on the basis of purely acoustic conditions. The coincidence of the
acoustic resonant frequency with the EM frequency of the Earth and the EEG
alpha-waves may suggest the close resonant coupling of these fields of different
nature. It is another interesting coincidence, that the surface of the Earth
also appears to have mechanical (acoustic) vibrations within the 10 Hz
bands.
Schumann waves penetrate through the body to approx. 94 %, and are absorbed
in approx. 6% at the specific frequencies the organism can resonate (Ludwig,
1984). It means that the source of the brain's activity may be triggered from
outside the body. One part of the EM spectrum (f <100 MHz) is the outer,
natural and cosmic source of our consciousness, the other part, with f >100
MHz, is the inner source of our consciousness. Regarding the fact that the
smaller frequencies, i.e. larger wavelengths are related to EM quanta of
smaller, subtler energies, we obtain a result that the more subtle levels of the
organisms' regulation belong to a hierarchy of global consciousness, to natural
and cosmic sources of consciousness. In this context, it is interesting that the
frequencies and time-development of the Schumann and EEG waves are similar
(König, Angermüller, 1960).
The more subtle level behind the EM one is the level of quantum-vacuum
interactions (QVI). Laszlo (1995) proposed that QVI may offer the solutions for
the present problems of cosmology, biology, psychology and parapsychology. I
worked out a quantitative model which shows the relationship between the
different levels of our environment and the progressively deeper mental levels
existing within us (Grandpierre, 1995a, b).
It is pointed out that the deeper mental levels (Grandpierre, 1995a), on
which the 'aware consciousness' builds up, have larger capacity, are faster,
therefore they require more subtle material carriers beyond the molecular and
neural units, reaching the quantum range. Assuming a finite energy exchange
between the vacuum field and the brain within the bounds of the uncertainty
principle, a relation is found between the physical size of the brain and its
relevant time scales. Using the time scales for information processing within
the brain as a whole and within its cells, the characteristic frequencies of the
electromagnetic and vacuum waves are obtained in the visible and the ultraviolet
spectral ranges. It is pointed out that the formula derived for the couplings
between the different mind levels gives values for the frequencies between the
Universe and Man which are physically possible and actually plausible.
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